With trade becoming fundamental for global peace and stability and preventing the US-China kind of trade wars, it is vital to push for an Indo-Pacific free trade zone like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) that should include India, a leading Australian politician has said.

APEC is a free trade agreement among 21 Pacific Rim member economies to which India has been seeking admission. It includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.

Australia has been pushing India's case for induction into the APEC, as well as in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Promoting Indian membership of these bodies has bipartisan support in Australia irrespective of the party in power, Shadow Minister for Trade and Labour MP Jason Clare told IANS in an interview here.

Clarke, who was on a brief visit to New Delhi, also took part in a CII sponsored meeting with representatives of Indian industry like Wipro, Aditya Birla Group, and Vikram Solar, as well as institutions like Amity University which have either an established presence in Australia or are looking to do business there.

"The world is different today from what it was years ago when the United Nations was founded. India is poised to become the world's third largest economy and requires to be represented at the UNSC...it has Australia's support," Clare said.

He referred to the report released last year by the Australian government titled "India Economic Strategy to 2035: Navigating from potential to delivery" authored by its former High Commissioner in New Delhi Peter Varghese which argues that India should be brought into the APEC.

"For Australia, India is a partner in seeking to forge regional institutions in the Indo-Pacific and so needs to be part of the APEC. India needs to represent the Indo-Pacific in APEC, which doesn't make sense without India," Clare said.

"As partners in the Indo-Pacific we are each grappling with the implications of the fading of US strategic predominance in the region," he added.

In this connection, the Australian politician pointed to the revival of the quadrilateral - "Quad" - initiative that was revived a year ago involving India, Australia Japan and the US as a "welcome initiative on strategic issues."

The Quad of democratic countries advocate a free and open Indo-Pacific for shared peace and prosperity.

"If countries like India, China, Australia need to achieve their growth goals we need peace and stability in the region. Over the long term we need to aim for an APEC free trade agreement that involves the major powers like US, China, India, Australia, Indonesia," Clare said.

Referring to the ongoing US-China trade war, he said that a "lot of people in the US and UK are worried about trade endangering jobs", but for Australia it is important to grow its trade with countries of the region.

"Both Australia and India see China as an important part of inclusive regional institutions," the Australian Shadow Trade Minister said.

On India's chances of APEC membership, he pointed to the hopeful fact of APEC members also being involved in the negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) that includes India. RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the six Asia-Pacific states with which ASEAN has existing free trade agreements (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand).

"APEC members are involved in the RCEP discussions, so it is a logical next step for India to becoming part of APEC," Clare said, adding that he is hopeful about the RCEP negotiations concluding this year.

According to the "India Economic Strategy" report, no single market over the next 20 years will offer more growth opportunities for Australia than India.

The report targets Australian exports to India to grow from $15 billion in 2017 to around $45 billion by 2035 and outward Australian investments to India rise from $10.3 billion to over the $100 billion mark, reflecting a transformational expansion of the relationship.

"Australians have been hesitant about doing business outside the country and they have to be bold about seizing opportunities overseas," Clare said.

On the pending negotiations for an India-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), or free trade pact, he said that Australia is pinning its hopes on an early finalisation of RCEP.

"Since RCEP is a wider free trade agreement proposal, our bilateral CEPA talks will be taken up afterwards. We're hoping to finalise RCEP by end of this year," he said.

Indian-American business leader Indra Nooyi, who headed the multinational PepsiCo, is under consideration for heading the World Bank, according to multiple media reports.

If she is nominated by US President Donald Trump to be the Bank's president, she will succeed Jim Yong Kim, a Korean immigrant who unexpectedly announced at the beginning of the year that he is quitting.

By tradition, the US president names the head of the global financial institution and the nomination is rubber-stamped by the executive directors.

Nominating Nooyi, an immigrant woman from a developing country, could head off the mounting challenges to the US role in determining the Bank's presidency.

She would also fit the bill for Trump's preference for the private sector and for making international organisations fiscally more efficient.

Trump's daughter, Ivanka, who is an admirer of Nooyi and considers her as a mentor is said to be backing her for the Bank job, according to the media reports quoting anonymous administration sources.

Nooyi stepped down as chairwoman of the PepsiCo last August after leading the international soft drinks, food and snacks giant for 12 years.

When Nooyi was leaving Pepsico, Ivanka Trump called her an inspiration and a mentor and gushed, "I am deeply grateful for your friendship. Thank you for your passionate engagement on issues that benefit the people of this country, and beyond."

If Nooyi becomes the Bank's president, the four top jobs in international financial policy-making would be held by women, two of them by women of Indian descent.

This month Gita Gopinath became the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF), which is headed by Managing Director Christine Lagarde. The Bank's chief economist is Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg.

Another Indian-American, Nikki Haley, who stepped down as the US Permanent Representative to the UN at the end of last year, is also on the list of candidates under consideration, according to The Financial Times.

The former South Carolina governor was the first Indian-American to be on the US federal cabinet and she pushed the UN to cut its budget and enhance efficiency.

If Nooyi, who headed a multinational with an annual revenue of $63.5 billion and assets of $79.8 billion, gets Trump's nod, it will mark an ideological turnaround from former President Barack Obama's orientation.

Departing from the tradition of economists or politicians heading the Bank, Obama appointed Kim, a medical doctor and academic, to reinforce the mission of fighting poverty and promoting what was considered a more holistic development.

But Kim also advocated greater cooperation with the private sector for financing development, which Nooyi would strengthen if she gets the job.

During her tenure PepsiCo, Nooyi led its reorganisation, shedding some parts of the conglomerate.

The formal process of selecting the nominee to head the Bank is being overseen by a panel made up of Ivanka Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the president's acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

Although Trump has been critical of international organisations and called for curtailing their budgets, he had - at least openly - a close rleation with Kim and backed increasing the Bank's capital by $13 billion.

Nooyi had a rocky start in relating to Trump: after his election she said that her employees were in "mourning.'

She, however, drew close to Trump as he began pushing business-friendly policies and firmer ties to business leaders.

Nooyi served on his business advisory council and has had dinners with him and other business leaders at his golf club in New Jersey.

M. Night Shyamalan, the US-based Indian-origin filmmaker, feels the wave of tribalism is taking over the world with people getting scared about losing their distinct identity. But the filmmaker says it is time to join the "larger group" and embrace the power of diversity.

The filmmaker is looking forward to the release of his film "Glass" -- a superhero movie with a psychological twist.

Asked to point out one superpower the world needs right now, Shyamalan told IANS in an exclusive interview over the phone: "What we are seeing right now is a strong dose of tribalism where we are seeing nationalism from different countries... kind of rear its head."

"This is a moment of globalisation and every country is worried that its distinct identity is going to go away and everybody is fighting for the old ways at the moment.

"But the courage to be part of a larger group, I don't know if it is a superpower, but it is obviously something that we need right now," added the filmmaker.

Talking about real life superheroes, he said: "We (my wife and I) have a foundation. And the format of the foundation is that we look for grassroot leaders around the world. My wife actually goes and finds them wherever they are in the world.

"If they pass the vetting process, then we ask them what they want and give them whatever they need. If they need money for the school bus, they want to dig a water well or want to build a school, we support them.

"They are amazing and they are the real life superheroes. They are kind of doing things in the war-torn areas and in areas where nobody can achieve any kind of good. And we are super inspired to be around these people."

The director is happy with diversity wave making strides in the entertainment industry in the West.

"There is definitely a powerful message when people see heroes that look like other people or minorities get to see themselves in the protagonist's position. It does cause a big change in the culture. And shifting of what is normal for a white family who is watching a show that has a non-white lead."

He thinks it is a "powerful thing".

"I think that there are important strides that are being made. And point of view is important...When you have non-white filmmakers or female filmmakers, we are going to get different types of stories, different types of strengths and we need those," he said, quipping "I am non-white so I am probably biased about it all".

With his roots tracing back to India, Shyamalan moved to the US as a child, and developed a passion to capture life through a camera when he was given one at the age of 8 -- the moment nudged him towards filmmaking and inspired him to make a career out of it.

He made his first film "Praying with Anger" when he was 21, but his life changed after his breakout hit "The Sixth Sense" in 1999. He is also credited for projects like "The Visit", "Wayward Pines", "The Last Airbender", "The Happening", "After Earth", "Split" and "Unbreakable".

Now, he has converged the world of "Split" (a story about a man with over 20 different personalities who kidnaps three teenage girls) and "Unbreakable" (about David Dunn who gets superhero abilities after surviving a train crash) in "Glass".

The awaited sequel to "Unbreakable" and "Split" stars Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, James McAvoy and Sarah Paulson. Disney India is releasing the film in India. It will open on January 18.

Shyamalan points that "Unbreakable" (released in 2000) and "Split" (which opened in 2016) weren't meant to be separate movies.

"It has always been one story. 'Split' was in the original outline of 'Unbreakable'. But when I was outlining it, it felt way too complicated.

"When you put somebody in jeopardy like the girls in 'Split', there is a ticking clock and pressure that starts and you are unable to do character work once that clock starts. When you have two storylines -- one is about a man who survives a train wreck and becomes a superhero and another is a bunch of girls getting abducted by person -- the character study diminish. The audience doesn't want to do anything and just save the girls.

"So, I pulled out 'Split' out of 'Unbreakable'," he said, adding that "Unbreakable" was perceived as a non-commercial thing to make a movie at the time of release.

(Sugandha Rawal can be contacted at sugandha.r@ians.in)

]]>Indian-origin player among contenders at poker tournament as top prize is raised to Rs 36 crhttp://vishvatimes.com/indian-origin-player-among-contenders-at-poker-tournament-as-top-prize-is-raised-to-rs-36-cr
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An Indian-origin professional poker player is among the top contenders in the Pokerstars tournament here, even as the top winning price goes up to Rs 36 crore ($5.1 million), helped by new players who joined in till noon on Tuesday -- the cut-off time.

Shyam Srinivasan, a Canadian citizen born in Toronto with parents from Chennai and Bengaluru, is still among the top players, even as 215 players are left in the fray, after being in the top six on Sunday.

His stack, though, had come down, after going up four-fold on the first day against the starting chips of $60,000.

Other Indians or persons of Indian origin are way behind in the tournament which boasts of having one of largest stakes and the highest number of players among such global events.

The tournament is being held here at the Atlantis hotel.

Some of the original entrants were eliminated on day two, but others cannot be written off as it's still early in the game.

A total of 1,039 players entered the $25,000 buy-in level, raising the total pool money to $26.45 million. The winner gets around 15 per cent of this with an extra million thrown in by Pokerstar as incentive.

The rest of the money would be shared by players till number 181 - the last 27 just about getting back the entry money.

There will be six who would become millionaires, apart from the winner.

"I am just aiming for the top. There is no other goal," Srinivasan, who has played in several global poker tournaments, told this IANS correspondent during a break.

He stood 6th in 2014, 10th in 2016 and 25th in a $25,000 buy-in tournament in 2017.

He said that unless you aim for the top you would end up nowhere.

"Even if you fail in achieving that level, you would get some measure of success on the way up", the 37-year-old said, adding that it was important for poker players to look after their physical and mental health because tournaments like the one in the Bahamas, spread over five whole days, can take a toll on the best.

A golf player, Srinivasan started playing cash games about 13 years ago and then moved on to online games, something which most players do in the reverse order. He says he has been one of the most successful online players, having made at least $10 million over the years. Even in sit-down cash games, he has won around $2 million.

He said one needs to adopt several good habits to be a good player -- like self-awareness, shunning ego and arrogance, being humble and checking all the time where one went wrong.

Srinivasan said his game in the last two days have been "quite smooth" with some of his best hands holding till the last and some of his bluffs going through.

"I played a fundamentally sound game," he added.

He said he had done well for himself in poker because several good players had held his hand when he was learning the professional ropes.

In turn now, he's mentoring several youngsters in the game, one of whom had gone on to become famous on the poker circuit. He has not been to India in the last 20 years but would like to visit his home country this year, "since I heard that poker has become very important there".

An Indian-American teenager has won the inaugural "Digital Transformation Hackathon" at Cornell University for designing a device to detect the actual pain level of a patient during a diagnosis.

The device designed by 17-year-old Mahum Siddiqi and her team uses neurological activity occurring in one's brain to help doctors more efficiently determine someone's pain levels.

"It's incredibly upsetting and problematic how hypothetical the concept of pain diagnostics is. Doctors have no way of knowing how little or how much pain someone is truly experiencing when they go in to be diagnosed," Siddiqi said in a statement on Friday.

A Class 12 student at Vestal High School in New York, Siddiqi was the only non-graduate student competing at the hackathon held earlier in December.

She and her team won the first prize at the competition, and are now working with representatives from companies such as Microsoft to produce a prototype of their pain-detecting device, the statement added.

"We need to design a system where patients are looked at as a whole, and doctors are able to know for sure, using our device/pure science, how much pain a patient is experiencing instead of just their personal description/perception of their own pain," Siddiqi said.

Nineteen-year-old London-based singer-songwriter RESHRICH, who has had two hit releases earlier this year and is ready with a third offering, says his Indian heritage helps him find inspiration for his music and he hopes to capitalise on the trend among Indian composers to experiment with Western culture and sonics.

"My Indian heritage (my dad is Indian) really helps me with finding inspiration for my music because I can use the samples and sounds from Indian music to make my sound unique and different," the musician, whose mother is a Serbian and who was brought up in northwest London, told IANS in an email interview.

"I think India is at a point in time where the music scene is really diverse and people are slowly moving away from the traditional sound and are experimenting more with the Western culture and sonics. In future, I plan to be the artist that brings that sound to life and make a lot of hit records," he added.

Does this mean he has an eye on Bollywood?

"I'm very open to Bollywood; I've loved it since I was kid. My grandparents always used to have it (Bollywood music) playing in the house whenever I would see them, so anything's possible," he explained.

How did the music bug bite him?

"I was inspired by musicians like Ed Sheeran, Arijit Singh and Drake. They influenced my career path to do music because of how singing and songwriting can change a person and make them feel. When I was a kid, my dad used to play a lot of Enrique Iglesias in the house so it was inspiration for what I wanted to become later in life," said the musician, who is largely self-taught.

"I am self-taught mostly, but have learned a lot about music through my college and other artists that I know and work with," he said.

How did he pick his present genre, that he has infused with elements of R&B and pop?

"My present genre has been inspired by the sounds that I like and vibe with when I'm in the studio with producers. I don't like to copy other artists or rip off a sound, I just make music that I enjoy because then I know my listeners will enjoy it too.

"I learned that music is a journey that you have to go through as an artist and it's really about trial and error -- so, eventually, you will find a sound that you and our audience can really connect with," he maintained.

What about his new releases?

"Currently, I have a couple of upcoming releases that are different to my first two releases. When they come out, people can really see the direction I'm heading.

"The first song is called 'Gasoline'. It's gonna be a lot more mature in sound and visual, so when it comes out next year, people are gonna be surprised. The song is about how in a relationship if you get everything you need out of it, there's no need to go anywhere, no need to waste that 'gasoline'," he said.

His previous singles -- "Buy My Love" and "Moonlight" -- were heavily supported by the BBC Asian Network, which labelled him an upcoming talent in pop music.

"The making of my first two singles was very different because I was inspired by two different situations for those songs. 'Buy My Love' is really inspired by girls that chase money in a relationship rather than love, and the second was about wanting to be with a girl in the moonlight and more about the experience and thrill of being with her," he said.

When making "Buy My Love", the singer said he wanted to make a song that would experiment with tablas in the percussion and also Indian vocal samples to give it something unique in addition to the traditional pop elements that were already there.

"The process of being in the studio for both of these singles was quite exciting because there is a certain feeling you get when creating something new that you can share with the world. It didn't take that long to get the songs created because once we had the musical direction it took only a couple hours from there," he explained.

Anand, who was earlier Head of Product for Facebook Marketplace and Payments services, would handle the Workplace product team and report to Julien Codorniou who is its Vice President.

"I'm excited to now be part of the journey of bringing Workplace to companies across the globe and help them unlock the potential of their biggest asset -- people," Anand wrote on his LinkedIn profile late on Tuesday.

Facebook launched Workplace in 2016 to help make companies more connected and productive.

Currently, more than 30,000 organisations are using Workplace worldwide -- including Walmart, Heineken, Spotify, Lyft and the Reliance Group.

"We're thrilled that Karandeep is joining Workplace as its new head of Workplace, effectively immediately," a Facebook spokeswoman told CNBC.

"A company's culture is leading indicator of its success and the productivity of its work force. Workplace brings the power of shaping culture by connecting people at work in ways never imagined before," Anand wrote.

Before joining Facebook, Anand spend 15 years at Microsoft in various key roles.

Facebook in 2017 launched the desktop version of its Workplace Chat app that can be downloaded by anyone on PC, Mac, Android or iOS.

Workplace Chat includes video chat with a co-worker or group, screen sharing and file sharing.

"Workplace is one of the fastest growing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product and a key growth area for Facebook," said Anand.

As Head of Product for Marketplace and Payments tools, Anand's team was responsible for powering commerce across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.

Microsoft's Indian-origin Chief Technology Officer for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Joseph Sirosh has joined Compass, a New York-based real estate tech company which is making efforts to simplify the home buying and selling process with the use of cutting-edge technology.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Sirosh said he was "super excited" to join Compass as CTO.

"It (Compass) is bringing agents and technology to empower us in one of the most stressful and consequential transactions of our lives -- buying or selling a home," he said.

"One of the fastest growing platforms that I know, and an inspiring and diverse leadership," Sirosh added.

Before joining Compass Sirosh spent five years at Microsoft, leading its AI efforts. Sirosh also worked on the company's Cloud, data and Machine Learning projects.

Prior to Microsoft, he spent close to nine years at Amazon as a VP in multiple parts of the company, most recently the Global Inventory Platform, Geekwire.com reported.

Compass announced the appointment of Sirosh in a tweet.

"He will lead our engineering team as we develop new AI-powered products for our real estate ecosystem," Compass said.

In an interview to IANS earlier this year, Sirosh said that while (AI) was making its presence felt across the spectrum globally, India needs to prioritise AI-based predictive analysis to improve outcomes in three core areas -- agriculture, healthcare and education, a top Microsoft executive has emphasised.

China on Tuesday said it hoped the Maldives will think before scraping the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with it after an influential leader of the island nation said his country will pull out of it as the deal was blindly pro-Beijing.

Beijing also sought to put a brave face in the light of the Maldives' new President Ibrahim Solih's decision to review the Chinese investments made during the presidency of pro-China leader Abdullah Yameen.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry evaded a question whether Beijing felt the new Maldivian government was steering the country back towards India after being close to Beijing under Yameen.

"China-Maldives FTA is based upon the friendly and equal consultations of the two sides. The early implementation of the agreement will deliver benefits to the two sides at an early date. We believe the Maldives government will make the right choice in this regard," spokesperson Geng Shuang said.

Mohamed Nasheed, a top leader of the governing alliance of the country, said that the FTA with China, signed last year under Yameen's rule, was unfortunate and one-sided and Male would pull out of it.

The Maldives, under Yameen who was ousted by Solih in elections this year, had signed the FTA with China, becoming the only second nation to strike such a deal after Pakistan.

The deal, opposed by Solih's party, had raised eyebrows in India and other countries. It was rushed through without any debate in the Maldivian parliament.

Yameen is said to have given away lot of infrastructure projects to the Chinese companies, racking up huge debts. Male drifted towards Beijing under Yameen, who openly showed his backing for China.

The new government is reportedly worried over the Chinese debt the country has run up during Yameen's presidency and thinks it's the time for course correction.

It says it will review all Chinese projects in the country.

Asked about the Solih's decision, Geng said: "I am not aware of the details mentioned by you just now.

"According to my information, not long back President Xi Jinping's special envoy and Minister of Culture and Tourism Luo Shugang attended the inauguration of President Solih and he had a meeting with him as well.

"In the meeting, President Solih said that the new Maldives government attaches importance to and is committed to deepening relations with China and is willing to deepen practical cooperation and adding a new dimension to the bilateral ties.

"President Solih also said that China offers the most economic development assistance to the Maldives. The China-Maldives friendship bridge has been put into operation. This has facilities the travel of commuters and brought benefits to the Maldives. The Maldives welcomes more Chines enterprises to invest in the Maldives.

"I think such kind of comments by (President Solih) reflect the current situation and the significance of China-Maldives practical cooperation."

Asked if Beijing was worried over Male leaning towards India, Geng said: "As for the former President and the current President or about their foreign policy, you should ask the Maldives government. China is committed to deepening our mutually beneficial cooperation and our will to maintain good relations with the Maldives is firm."

Iraq has denied reports that President Barham Salih is mediating between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia, media reported.

The Gulf media reports that "Iraqi President proposed to mediate" after "Iran offered to negotiate with Saudi Arabia" are "absolutely untrue," Salih's office said in a statement, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

"We stress the need to take accurate information from reliable sources, which is in line with the professional charters of the media," the statement added.

Earlier in the day, a separate statement by Salih's office said the Iraqi president arrived in the capital Baghdad after visiting neighbouring countries including Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Salih's regional tour starting on November 11, the first of its kind since he took office on October 2, also covered Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan, and aimed at boosting Iraq's relations with Middle Eastern countries.